Arteta provides update on Rice, Saka and Timber | News

Mikel Arteta has given an update on Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber ahead of our second leg against Sporting CP.

The trio, along with Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori, missed our open training session ahead of facing the Portuguese champions, and during his press conference, Mikel delivered an update on our players.

“We have to wait until tomorrow morning to see how a few of the boys are and make the right decision with them,” he said.

When asked about Declan’s availability, he added: “We have to wait and see how he is tomorrow, but obviously he wasn’t available to train.

“He’s played a lot of games and that’s part of the issue. But he’s going to try to do everything that he possibly can to be with us tomorrow, that’s for sure.”

Bukayo has yet to feature for us since the international break, along with Jurrien, who came off during our 2-0 victory over Everton last month.

When asked if either might be available for the UCL second leg, he said: “Maybe one of them, let’s see.

On Bukayo’s injury, Mikel added: “It was something that he was carrying for a while. It was an Achilles issue.”

Kai Havertz helped bring a lead into the second leg with a dramatic late winner in Lisbon.

We’re now aiming to reach back-to-back UCL semi-finals for the first time in our history, but Mikel knows it will be a big test to overcome the Portuguese outfit.

He said: “I think they’re always trying to be a team that is very dominant, through the press, through the ball.

“The longer that the game goes, in relation to the context of the game, they can approach and answer that like they’ve done in the league. Regarding the score, they will modify that, we are ready for that as well, and we’ll play with whatever is necessary to win the game.”